November is National Career Development Month

November has been designated as National Career Development Month, and as a career counselor, I encourage you to take some time this month to think about your current career situation. We no longer work in a time when people are hired by a company and stay there 30 to 40 years until they retire. Certainly the individual initiates some of those changes, but in some cases, the employer initiates the changes. There are no guarantees when it comes to the world of work today. If there is something you have often dreamed of doing, is this the time you investigate it as you identify your career options? There is some indication that perhaps the majority of workers in the united States would not say they are happy in their work. Research indicates most people will change jobs as much as 7 to 9 times in their work life, so career development is not just a one-time thing. If you are one of those who are not happy in your work, I encourage you to take some time to think about your situation. Many adults have not really thought about their career direction, but have gone along with things as they came up. If that describes you, perhaps now is the time to give consideration to your career direction. Career development generally involves four large steps, which may need to be repeated several times throughout your life. The first step of career development is knowing yourself. Although many adults think they already know themselves, when asked to identify their strengths and those skills they do well and enjoy, that may be difficult to do. I encourage my clients to identify their skills and abilities, interests, personal strengths, values and personality traits, as well as other factors, as they make a composite of what they know about themselves. Some are able to to do so pretty much on their own, but many people prefer to do some formal career assessments. The second step in career development is learning about the world of work. We tend to make decisions about career directions based on very limited information, but there are thousands of job titles and most people only know about a small percentage of them. In today's technological world, more of the jobs being created are things we had never dreamed of before. The third step of career development involves making decisions - looking at what you know about yourself and what you know about the world of work and looking for areas of overlap. So you would identify those occupations that include some of the things of interest to you, require at least some of the skills you possess, and allow for the use of some of the traits and strengths you possess. Once you have made decisions regarding occupations that would be a good fit for you, then the fourth step in career development is developing and implementing a plan to achieve the career goal(s) identified. Your plan may involve continuing your education, becoming involved in community activities or volunteer work, starting your own business, and/or launching a campaign to make a career or employment change. Whatever your plan involves, it helps to take time to develop it in detail, so that you are more likely to complete it. There is no magic wand when it comes to career development and managing your career and going through these steps may not excite you, but if the end result is a career direction that does excite you, then it will have been worth it. And, as research indicates, if you will likely have more opportunities to make career changes later in life, then the better you get at doing the steps, the more thorough your career decisions and plans can be. My hope is that this may serve as incentive to help you take some action during National Career Development Month. If you need assistance through the steps of career development, it is available. No mater what you age, you should still work toward achieving your career goals. Mary Ann Davis is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in private practice providing career coaching and counseling for life's transitions. She is recognized as a Master Career Counselor (MCC) by the National Career Development Association and is a Distance Credentialed Counselor (DCC). Check out her web site at www.YourCareerPlan.com. To contact Ms. Davis, please call (513) 665-4444 x3 or send an email to YourCareerPlan@cinci.rr.com